Attachable handled baskets



Aug. 14, 1956 s'. c'. LAMPERT 2,758,740

ATTACHABLE HANDLED BASKETS Filed Sept. 29, 1953 l 2 Sheets-Sheet lSadfon l C. Lampert ATTORNEY INVENTOR Aug. 14, 1956 s. c. LAMPr-:RT2,758,740

ATTACHABLE HANDLED BASKETS Filed Sept. 29, 1955 2 Sheets-Sheet 2INVENTRV Sadron Lampert ATTORNEY;

United States Patent O A'I'IACHIABLE HANDLED BASKETS Sadron C. Lampert,Norfolk, Va., assignor to Farmers Incorporated, Norfolk, Va., acorporation of Virginia Application September 29, 19S3,.Serial No.382,895

` 1 Claim. (Cl. 217-125) This invention relates to wooden receptaclesand more specifically to attachable-handled baskets.

An important object of the invention is to provide a handled woodenbasket for use in packing, shipping, storing and marketing fruit, forexample, and the basket bodies may be closely nested, with the handlesdetached, but the latter may be quickly and easily rigidly attached, bysimple upward movements of the handles, to the upper spaced-apartflexible and normally substantially paralleling upper border `bands ofthe basket bodies, to then remain rigidly opstanding.

Another important object is to provide baskets in which the handles mayvbe rigidly attached without the employment of tools or wrap-aroundmanipulations and without bending the upper substantially verticalborder bands of the basket bodies, even temporarily, inwardly into thecompartments of the basket bodies.

Still another important object is to provide a handle or bail of springymaterial, as heavy wire, with specially designed free ends, lforassociation with the iiexible or springy upper spaced-apart andparalleling border bands of basket bodies to provide baskets-with rigidupstanding handles.

Furthermore, an important object is to provide handles or bails ofspringy material which may be employed as handles for baskets havingassociated border bands of varying widths, since the handles may beattached land will remain upright upon baskets, even where one borderband may be of one width and its associated border band of a greater orless width. Such imperfections of 'basket border bands are not uncommon.

Another important object is to provide handles or balls of springymaterial which may be securely attached to remain upright on basketshaving associated border bands, one of which may be disposed with aportion above or below the horizontal Vplane of the upper edge of theother border'band or one of which bands k.may bedisposed with a loweredge portion below the .horizontal `plane of the lower edge of the otherborder band. Or'one or both bands may have imperfections whereby aragged edge or edges are presented at the areas engaged by .the handles.

In addition, an important object is to provide baskets, as described, inwhich the handles may be securely attached to and will extend uprightfrom the basket bodies despite variations inthe thicknesses yof thespacedfapart border bands or variations in the distances they are spacedapart. This is especially important since, in practice, the thicknessesof such bands vary as does the distance they are spaced apart. Forexample, one band may be one-sixteenth inch thick and the parallelingband three-thirty-seconds inch thick, while the spacing may vary fromone-eighth inch to one-fourth inch due to the thicknesses of the basketbody wall panels, as well as swelling and distortion of the material ofthe bands.

Also, an important object is to provide a basket and readily-attachedhandle which requires no perforating of 2,758,740 Patentednug. 14, 1956"ICC I' in which drawings:

Fig. l is a top plan of a basket body.

Fig. 2 is a vertical transverse section thereof, substantially on theline 2-2 of Fig. 1 with the basket nested withV another 'basket of likeconfiguration.

Fig. 3 is a horizontal section through the basket body and its borderbands and illustrating a method of securing one to the other.

Fig. 4 is an elevation of the basket handle.

Fig. 5 is a section, along the lines of Fig. 2, showing one step in themethod of attaching the handle of Fig. 4.

Fig. 6 is a similar section, with the handle attached.

Fig. 7 is a top plan of a lid for the basket.

Fig. 8 is a View, along the lines of Fig. 6, with the lid in place onthe basket.

In the drawings, wherein for the purpose of illustration is shown apreferred embodiment of the invention and wherein similar referencecharacters designate corresponding parts throughout the severa-l views,.the letter A ydesignates the basket as a whole, comprising the basketbody B, the handle C and klid or closure D.

The basket body B is shown to include spaced-apart side wall panels 10slopingupwardly from a bottom wall 11 and, with end wall panels 12 andupper outer and inner border bands 13 and 14, define an upwardly-openingcompartment 15. The side Wall panels 10 are spaced apart so that thereis a space or recess toeither side of the transverse medial axis of thebasket sides.

With special reference to the upper border .bands 13 and 14, these areof thin flexible or springy material, such as thin wood veneer, and aredisposed in substantial parallelism, with the band 13 against the outerfaces of the upper extremities of the side and end wall .panels 10 and12 and the band 14 against the inner faces of these panels. The upperedges 16 of the bands are preferably ush with the upper edges of thepanels 10 and 12. As an example of the width of the bands, they may besubstantially one inch from ,the edges 16 to the lower edges 17. In themanufacture of the bands, owing to wood grain, kinds of wood employed,diierent periods of curing and differences in sawing, the bands may varyin thickness and also may be warped. In addition, they may be spacedapart various distances, due to `differences in the thicknesses,vforexample,.of ,the side panelsor because of warping or, as may be seen inthe upper portion of Fig. 1, due to the overlapping of the outer borderband 13. However, there is, due to the spacing apart of-the adjacentside edges ofthe side wall ypanels 10, a defined normally unoccupied orfree space 18, to either side of the transverse medial axis of the bandsat the sides of the basket body, delined 'by the facingV side edges ofadjacent side wall panels 10and adjacent bands 13 and 14. For example,this spacev may be threequarters inch long. p

Thebands may =be secured to the wall panels vin'any approved way such asby conventional staples 19 which are quite generally used for thatpurpose, and shown in Fig. 3. These bands 13 and 14 define the mouth ofthe compartment 15 of the basket body.

Referring now mainly to Fig. 4, the handle C is of bail shape andspringy and it may be constructed of a single length of heavy wire suchas gage number l0 (of American wire gages). Each handle C includes ahand grip portion 20, a pair of diverging portions 21 extendingtherefrom, a pair of short portions 22 extending inwardly from the lowerends of the portions 21, forming obtuse angles therewith and definingshoulders 23, a pair of inner border band-engaging portions 24 extendingfrom the lower ends of the portions 22, a pair of bight portions 25 atthe lower ends of the portions 24 and extending outwardly therefrom, apair of outer border band-engaging portions 26 extending upwardly fromthe outer ends of the bights 2S and slightly inwardly toward theirassociated portions 24 and terminating at their upper free ends inslightly outturned terminal portions 27. The portions 24 and 26 with thebights 25 may be regarded as the end or terminal parts of the handle forassociation with the border bands of the basket body.

From Fig. 8, for example, it will be seen that the lengths of theportions 24 and 26 are such that the portions 22 will clear the innerborder bands 14- and the terminal portions 27 will clear the lid D. Thenormal distance between the facing surfaces of the portions 24 and 26 isless than the normal width of the free space 1S plus the thickness ofthe bands 13 and 14. For example, this normal distance may bethree-sixteenths to seven-thirty-seconds inch while the combined normalwidth and thickness of the space 18 and bands 13 and 14 may beiive-sixteenths inch. As a result, when the handle C is in position asin Figs. 6 and 8, the spaces 18 are narrowed in width (as may be seen bycomparing Figs. 2 and 5 with Figs. 6 and 8) while the shortestvdistances between the facing surfaces of the portions 24 and 26 arewidened. Thus, there is cooperation between the spacedapart bands 13 and14 at the free spaces 18 on the one hand, and the portions 24 and 26 onthe other hand, to cause the portions 24 and 26 to grip the bands 13 and14 firmly so that the entire handle C will remain upright. Fig.illustrates how the handle C is canted so that one end portion thereofmay be inserted into the compartment 15 until the portion 27 clears thelower edges 17 of the bands 13 and 14 and this end portion then drawnupwardly. The two bands, at the free space, 18 will give enough so thatthis may be accomplished. The outturned terminal portions 27 enable theportions 26 to ride over the lower edges 17 without snagging orsplitting the bands or otherwise damaging them.

It will be noted that these operations require no puncturing of thebands 13 and 14 nor of the panels 10. Nor are any so-called Wrap-aroundoperations required. The bands 13 and 14 are contacted alongsubstantially their entire width by the portions 24 and 26 of the handleand there are no points, projections nor free ends of the handle Withinthe compartment 15, which would tend to damage the contents of thebasket.

The lid D of Figs. 7 and 8 is of generally conventional construction andprovided with a pair of axially-aligning centrally-disposed recesses 30disposed adjacent the side edges 31 of the lid and adapted to receiveportions of the handle C as shown in Fig. 8. The handle preventslongitudinal and transverse sliding of the lid. It will be noted in Fig.8 that the portions of the lid adjacent the edges 31 overhang theterminal portions 27 of the handle C which are outwardly of the basketbody and do not tend to damage the contents of the basket compartment15.

When knocked down, with the handle C removed and disposed upon thebottom wall 11, the basket bodies B may be nested, as two are shown inFig. 2, and the lids disposed one upon another to provide, in all, acompact 4 arrangement for shipment and storage of the basket partsbefore assembling and lling of the baskets.

However, the major contribution to the art resides in the provision ofbasket bodies having resilient or springy parallel bands, spaced apart,and providing a free space between them at the transverse center of theside walls of the basket body in combination with a springy materialhandle which, when applied as described, will cause the bands, at thespace mentioned, to move toward each other while the portions 24 and 26of the handle are forced apart and, these portions and the bands tend toretain the handle in an upright position against any tendancy to swingor tip to an inclined position.

Various changes may be made to the form of inven tion herein shown anddescribed without departing from the spirit of the invention or scope ofthe claim.

What is claimed is:

ln combination with a basket body having upwardlyextending facing wallsdefining an upwardly-opening compartment and each of two opposite ofsaid walls being provided with a recess at its upper end portion, andinner and outer spaced-apart border bands of springy material facingeach other and with portions of said bands disposed across the sides ofsaid recesses and secured to said walls, the walls of portions of saidrecesses and said portions of said bands `defining free spaces, a lidfor said compartment and being provided with opposite edge portionsoutwardly overhanging the outer faces of the outer border bands, each ofsaid opposite edge portions being provided with a recess spaced inwardlyof the outer edges of said opposite edge portions and with the mouths ofthe recesses facing one another, and a handle for the basket body havinga first pair of upwardly-extending portions facing one another,extending in gripping relation over portions of the outer faces of saidinner border bands at the free spaces and into said recesses, and asecond pair of upwardly-extending portions, facing one another,extending in gripping relation over portions of the outer faces of saidouter border bands at the free spaces and with the free ends of thesecond upwardlyextending portions being beneath said opposite edgeportions outwardly overhanging the outer faces of the outer borderbands, all of said upwardly-extending portions being of springymaterial, said bands at said spaces being forced by saidupwardly-extending portions toward each other and said bands at saidspaces tending to force said upwardly-extending portions apart, wherebysaid handle will be firmly secured to said basket body, in an uprightposition, against tipping.

References Cited in the le of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 410,686Gandy Sept. l0, 1889 669,768 Sitterly Mar. 12, 1901 1,442,955 Lane Ian.23, 1923 1,447,800 McLennan et al. Mar. 6, 1923 1,598,755 Townsend Sept.7, 1926 1,931,329 Sherman Oct. 17, 1933 1,967,642 Williams et al July24, 1934 2,017,782 Bacon Oct. 15, 1935 2,124,217 Van Benschoten July 19,1938 2,195,070 Backert Mar. 26, 1940 2,554,025 Harrison May 22, 1951

